So far, that rings true for the 2014 Oakland A's. The team returned home this weekend from a 7-2 road trip, boasting one of the best records in baseball, and promptly won two more against Houston. The starting pitching has been remarkable, allowing three or fewer runs in 15 of its first 17 games. And that's after the rotation lost two top starters to injury before the season started.

This team is built on pitching and depth, a combination that promises to contend all summer.

The funny thing about this very young A's campaign: They're doing it without much help from the bullpen. Relief pitching was supposed to be the team's greatest strength. But you know what they say about that.

Closer Jim Johnson, brought in to replace the departed Grant Balfour, lost his job after three bad outings, despite leading the major leagues with 50 saves last year. Oakland relievers have blown five saves on the season, meaning the A's easily could have opened the year something like 14-1. That's '84 Tigers good.

The good news? The bullpen hasn't been as bad as it seems. Its overall ERA is 2.48, which puts the group right near the top of the American League. So A's manager Bob Melvinisn't worried.

"It'll straighten itself out," said Melvin, before the first game of the homestand against the hapless Houston Astros. "We have too many talented guys. When Jim was taken out of the closer role, it impacted all the guys. They will step up."

Melvin is right. It's the A's way.

The idea that someone will step up and perform lies at the root of the A's astonishing success over the past two seasons. It is a team built to survive injury and departure, made up of young, cost-effective talent. The sum is greater than the parts. And depth is the key. If on-base percentage was the key metric in Moneyball 1.0, depth and versatility represent the new paradigm.

"That's a credit to Billy (Beane) and the front office," said Melvin. "Over the last few years, you didn't hear many teams talking about depth. But that's the way they do it around here. If someone goes down, someone else steps up."

Case in point: Oakland spark plug Coco Crisppulled a hamstring and had to miss a few games. In stepped Craig Gentry, himself just off the 15-day disabled list, who played a capable center field while batting .357 over a five-game stretch.

In the bullpen, Sean Doolittle stepped in for Johnson, but didn't do much better, blowing a save Tuesday in Anaheim. The team still won, and the A's reliever was rewarded Friday with a five-year extension on his contract. Doolittle was a first baseman as recently as 2011, before the team converted him into a shutdown reliever. Only the A's would see that kind of potential. Last year, he allowed the lowest percentage of inherited runners to score in the major leagues. He's versatile, successful, and he perseveres. That's why Beane & Co. decided to keep him around.

"We like having his flexibility," said Farhan Zaidi, Beane's assistant general manager and director of baseball operations. "That's the kind of player and person we as an organization want to invest in."

"We've had a heightened awareness of it," he said, all the while acknowledging that it wasn't exactly a new idea. "We made it a priority. We wanted to have a game plan for every guy. Who could step in? I think more and more teams are thinking that way. Embracing platoons and defensive versatility has made a difference for us."

The result is a well-rounded roster with interchangeable parts. That can be effective, or destructive. Big leaguers want to be in the lineup every day, especially the highly paid guys. The A's don't have too many big-money prima donnas, but Melvin still has his hands full keeping everyone happy in an ever-changing lineup.

"Bob's ability to juggle lineups and keep players happy has been a huge part of it," said Zaidi. "On the flip side, our players know our success won't be torpedoed by losing one player."

And so it goes. The A's rank 25th of 30 teams in the league in terms of payroll. Combined, the team pays its players $83 million annually. Down in L.A., the Dodgers pay all their players $235 million. But that's OK with the A's. It's a new season, but the same old story. Those other teams can have their big payrolls and fancy stadiums; the A's just win ballgames. They overcome financial deficiencies by outsmarting the opposition.